David Mundell, a Tory Scotland Office Minister, last night called for “good immigration, not mass immigration” and for a “more measured approach”.

“There is a huge population shift occurring in Scotland that is putting great pressure on our communities and on our services,” he said.

“The additional strain placed upon our health service, schools and housing are damaging and we must ensure that they are capable of dealing with any further influx.”

Sir Andrew Green, chairman of campaign group Migrationwatch, said Scotland’s population had been expected to rise by seven per cent over the next 25 years but the new figures suggest this rate will double.

The statistics show births outnumbering deaths caused a rise in the population last year of 5,188. This was the largest ‘natural’ increase recorded in almost 20 years.

However, by far the main reason for the rise was immigration, which accounted for there being almost 25,000 more people living in Scotland last year than at the same time in 2009.

Part of the increase was thanks to 3,433 more people moving here from the rest of Britain than the total who travelled in the opposite direction.

But this is dwarfed by the 21,500 rise in Scotland’s population attributed to overseas immigrants and asylum seekers.

According to the figures, 46,100 people move to Scotland from abroad but only 24,600 people went back overseas.

The “net gain” is equivalent to about one in 250 of Scotland’s population and is the largest influx of foreigners since officials started compiling the statistics in 1991.

The largest increases in immigrant population were recorded in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen and Dundee. The statistics conclude that Scotland’s population has increased by 3.1 per cent since 2001 and immigration is the main reason.

Migrants have poured into Scotland since the expansion of the EU in 2004 and the number of people living here who were born abroad has increased by more than half in five years to 312,000.

It recently emerged that 15,930 EU students are being taught at Scottish universities, almost double the figure a decade ago, thanks to Alex Salmond abolishing their tuition fees.

Glasgow’s Caledonian University last week became the first in the UK to be stripped of the right to recruit foreign students after breaching immigration guidelines limiting the hours they can carry out paid work.

But an SNP spokesman said: “These are excellent figures, which mean a growing population will help fuel our economic recovery. The SNP believes Scotland should have responsibility for immigration policy.”